Invite-Only Turntable.fm Takes ‘Social Music’ Beyond the Buzzword

We’ve had our eye on Turntable.fm for about a week now, but when we called the developer to request an invite to this private alpha version, he said we’d have to wait, because he’s trying to keep a low profile. Sorry dude, but now that one of our Facebook friends is using it, we’re allowed in. So much for your low profile.

Unlike the barebones Listening Room, Turntable.fm is all kinds of slick, even in this pre-release version. DJs represented by avatars sit at a desk in the front of the room taking turns playing one track each, while audience members crowd the floor in front of them.

Just like in real life, everybody gets to listen and chat with each other, whichever avatar is DJing bobs its head, and everybody knows whether they have a Mac or a PC.

You can choose songs from your computer’s own library, or from Turntable.fm’s own impressive collection, which fielded most tunes we asked for. And you can preview each song before it plays privately, just like a real DJ would with headphones, to ensure that you’re not about to embarrass yourself in front of everyone (with cross-fades, no less). DJs sit in the front, and the audience’s avatars stand in front of them.

If we have a complaint about Turntable.fm, it’s that the search is too simple. You can only search for artist, song and album — and you only get 25 results, so the song you’re looking for might be in its catalog, but remain invisible.

Everyone gets to vote on your song. If they hate it, it gets killed; if they approve, you get points (more on those below). Whatever’s playing, you can harvest it to the music service or store of your choice (iTunes, Last.fm, Spotify, or your own Turntable.fm queue).

Each DJ’s queue repeats, unless they make changes, so it’s in your best interest to pay attention and keep adding new songs or revert to listener status — otherwise people will chafe at the repetition and you’ll lose face, if not points.

At this point, it’s a big advantage to be the owner of the room, because if someone plays “Free Bird,” as happened in my room, you have the option of booting them from the room.

Gaming the System

Like AudioVroom, Turntable.fm uses a points system. You need points to pick an avatar, and we’re not quite sure what else. If this service is like AudioVroom, though, you’ll lose the ability to play music if you run out of points — although again, this service is still “invite only,” and co-developer Billy Chasen isn’t talking, so we can’t say for sure.

What Happens Next?

This private alpha is sure to continue drawing attention from early adopters and music nerds as it nears public release, but technical and legal issues could arise as it hits the mainstream. One DJ who joined the Evolver.fm room said he’d noticed performance issues already (“I was into Turntable.fm when it still worked!”).

For super neat music technologies like this, the usual progression goes something like this:

I tried logging in with my Facebook account since I have a friend who is on there and, according to their website, if you know someone who already has access, you can get right in. Nope, didn’t work.

So I tried signing up for the invite list. All I get is an error message. Not sure if it just doesn’t like my answer in response to the “Lemmy vs. God” thing or what. I tried it with several different variations (caps, punctuation, etc.) and nothing worked.

I haven’t tried it, but after reading this, especially the part about the search, it just sounds like yet another way to sort of give people what they want—convenient, free music to listen to—without giving them what they really want, which is the ability to pick tunes without restriction, and to occasionally hear something new as picked by someone who knows what they’re doing and whose tastes are compatible with theirs. Well that, and the ability to store and use the music offline, again without restriction. Maybe I’m just a conspiracy theorist, but systems like this are never really about what they’re delivering to the users. My guess is the real value is in the data they can collect and sell to record companies and marketers. They can track (or even generate) interest in new artists, renew & track interest in catalog titles, and generally exploit demographic, usage, and playlist info. Knowing that new artist X gets played twice as much in rooms dominated by Norwegian metal loving 20-something males in Croatia is probably something the record companies will find valuable.

click on the lemmy vs god thing, it’ll give you the answer. as far as the facebook friend problem, that should work. if it really doesn’t, there is a glitch, which really no one can be blamed for.

Abc

click on the lemmy vs god thing, it’ll give you the answer. as far as the facebook friend problem, that should work. if it really doesn’t, there is a glitch, which really no one can be blamed for.

Abc

it definitely should work. worked for me as “lemmy is god.”

Abc

it definitely should work. worked for me as “lemmy is god.”

http://www.apriltara.com April Tara

*sigh* I give up.

Guys…read the entire comment. I KNOW THE ANSWER IS “Lemmy IS God”…I said that like 4 times after originally stating that I tried it in many variations. I KNOW. I’m a very smart girl and I’ve seen ‘Airheads’ like 79 times.

Don Armstrong

So, ummm, ya. I just found this site [evolver.fm] Big ups, awesome site btw.

Anyways, I went to turntable.fm and clicked the facebook login thingy, fully expecting/waiting for it to tell me that none of of my friends are on it, blah blah blah. And, Voila, I’m in. I can guarantee you that NONe, of my friends are on this site, so there must be a glitch in the sys, but I don’t remember seeing the same black cat twice, and no armed men in black suits/sun glasses are shooting at me ;-0. All in all, I got in without a friend being on it already, just clicked the login with facebook button and the site loaded up.

Just reading the site, I was thinking the lame factor was pretty high, and wouldn’t interest me much. I’m a bit surprised at how much I’m liking it so far.

Carlo Angelo Serapion

There are a few sites like Turntable now. http://www.Lissn.com is like Turntable.fm but for conversations. Anyone tried it?

Stevecee1

ANYONE ELSE HAVING THIS PROBLEM?: Hi all, I signed up to Turntable.fm two nights ago via the Facebook link and it was great, created my own room, got DJ points etc. Trouble I am now facing is that when I go to log in via Facebook I always get the message: “An error occurred with turntable. Please try again later” Does anyone else experience this? When I look at my apps on Facebook it shows I am connected with turntable.fm so the link is there. My friend tried to gain access as he should be able to as I’m a member, but he gets the same message. The error box that pops up is from Facebook not Turntable, any ideas guys? Thank you, Steve

3. Like, Spotify, I predict all the “haters” out there will be on TT within the year and heralding it for the amazing thing it is, and the killer concept it introduces to the world, and how it’s opened the door to TRUE sharing of music, without compromising record labels, or recording artists.

Justin Brunsvold

Very cool site.
ViewingTree.com is another music site I came across which focuses on users creating and sharing Video playlists using specific genre tags. Very interesting concept.